Beauly motor racing rising star Oliver Stewart was thrilled to overcome technical challenges to win his first GB3 Championship event on Sunday.
Stewart, who is in his debut season in the championship with Elite, claimed victory in race three of last weekend’s event at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.
It is Stewart’s maiden triumph of the season, in only his third event since making the step up from the F4 British Championship last year.
Stewart says the victory was all the sweeter, after issues with his car led to him finishing in last place in Friday’s qualifying.
Stewart said: “At the start of the weekend we had a major issue with the car. It was out of the team’s control and we couldn’t do anything about it.
“Everything is controlled by the Championship when it comes to engine and electronics, so we couldn’t get a full diagnosis of what actually did happen.
“It ended up with us being nowhere near where we should be. I qualified dead last and I am definitely not that slow.
These kind of things can be extremely demotivating for not only myself but the whole team.
“They changed the components and it started working properly as it should again.
“It just clicked. 
Beauly driver Oliver Stewart winning a GB3 Championship event at Spa, Belgium. Image: Jakob Ebrey.“To find what we were looking for in a problem, and be able to change it and come back, just shows the whole never-give-up attitude we apply to every corner of motorsport.
“We really did have to dig deep in order to get that result.
“Ultimately the car was really good in the end and there were no issues at all – I worked my hardest to get my bits right.
“Nothing is ever perfect, but I think it was one of my best races I have had so far.”
Teenager describes his race to victory
Stewart claimed victory by 2.524 seconds ahead of Joseph Loake – who is the overall championship leader after three events.
In doing so, 16-year-old Stewart is among the youngest racers to win a GB3 Championship event.
Stewart was thrilled with the way the race played out.
He added: “At Spa the straights are so long, it gives an opportunity for people to race.
“You get tracks like Oulton Park where you can barely fit two cars wide. You will maybe get one overtake on an entire weekend.
“I didn’t get the best of starts, but I was happy with that because the next straight is so long that if you are leading you are just a passenger for people to drift up to you and overtake you.
“There’s not much you can do about it, so I was happy to be second going into the first corner, because by the end of the straight I had already passed the leader.
“I then managed to bridge out a gap in two corners. There was a big crash which I was five or six seconds ahead of.
“There was a huge gap but then the safety car came out, which brought everyone right back into it.
“When the safety car lights went out I had to focus on getting the best restart possible. I backed everyone up and made sure I was weaving in the right places.
“I looked in my mirrors and waited for the driver behind to do a small movement, and just as he did that I booted it, which caught him completely off guard.
“It’s very open for racing, but I was able to hold him off and defend really hard but fair.
“I kept working and being consistent, but with really good pace. I kept bridging out the gap and, even though he was in a full tow of me, he wasn’t able to catch me.”
Stewart in confident mood for remainder of season
Stewart is quickly back in action at his next event at Snetterton between June 15-18, and he says the victory will provide him with a major confidence boost.
The Charleston Academy pupil added: “The team and I worked really hard in developing the car over the weekend in every way, and developing myself as a driver.
“There were a few things I could have done better, as there always will be.
“But it was a really good learning curve for us all, in the sense things can go wrong, but we can still get a really good result out of it.
“Ultimately we have really good confidence built from that race, and now we can carry this momentum on to Snetterton in two weeks.”
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